How to Effectively Improve Outreach with Today's Short Attention Spans

Who has the shorter attention span: Goldfish or humans? The answer is that it doesn't matter. Both have trouble staying focused. However, Goldie has a bit of a competitive advantage: Her ability to concentrate doesn't seem to be waning. Ours, on the other hand, is slipping lower and lower.

​​According to Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California who conducted extensive research on attention spans, attention spans are on the decline. Among the many reasons for this, she noted that technology and a person's personality are among the most influential. Consider it a byproduct of living in a digital age where you can pull up a 1980s sitcom blooper reel anytime, anywhere.

Given the fact that our attentions are shrinking, you may need to rethink your sales and marketing outreach strategy. Outreach is an essential part of business development. It's how you meet people and, if all goes well, build lasting relationships. However, you may need to refresh your general outreach approach if prospects keep tuning out.

1. Make memorable first impressions.

First impressions supposedly take about seven seconds to develop. (Perhaps not ironically, that's the average length of many TikToks.) So you have to make those first moments of any outreach attempt count, whether it's a warmup LinkedIn message or an old-fashioned elevator pitch.

To help your first impression stand out, think like your prospect. You want what you write or say to matter and not sound self-serving. At the same time, you don't want to lean into forgettable platitudes like, "How's it going?" or "Wow! A lot of people are here!"

This means you need to overcome your own attention span deficit and do some homework before prospecting begins. Find out everything you can about all the prospects on your list — where they went to school, what they like to do, what's happening in their industry right now. It's not hard, particularly if you're both active on social media. When creating outreach messaging, go for the gusto and dazzle right away. Otherwise, you may not have a second opportunity to show your stuff.

2. Personalize each touchpoint.

The consensus among sales professionals is that it takes around eight touchpoints to make a sale. Whether or not that's accurate for your situation will mostly depend on what you sell and your sales cycle. Nevertheless, you can assume that you won't be able to make a B2B sale without going through at least a few touchpoints. To make each one of them feel important and essential to your time-strapped prospect, aim for personalization.

Tailoring each touchpoint can have a bottom-line effect on your quarterly goals. Companies that deliver very personalized touchpoints can expect to see a 66% market share boost as compared to companies without personalization. Remember: Even though people have short attention spans, they still like to be treated with a high degree of individualism. Don't get me wrong, though. You aren't required to spend hours on each text or create detailed, one-of-a-kind agendas for all your calls. That wouldn't make sense.

Many technologies exist that can help you personalize your touchpoints efficiently. For instance, customer relationship management (CRM) software can provide valuable insights into your prospects' preferences and behaviors, enabling you to tailor your interactions effectively. For example, you might look for software that allows all your messages and touchpoints to be streamlined into one place, in chronological order for each contact.

With the right tools, there's no more mixing up conversations or pausing to recall personal details. You can quickly reference past discussions and use them strategically. For instance, you might remember that a particular prospect mentioned their upcoming vacation, which allows you to open your next conversation with a friendly inquiry about their trip. These technologies save time and empower you to create meaningful connections that resonate with your prospects.

3. Master your timing.

You've arranged a Zoom meeting with someone you just know needs your service. The discussion gets off to a decent start until your prospect's young son begins to get fussy in the background. At that point, you should rethink the rest of your agenda. If you were planning to try a close... don't. You need to be hyper-aware when it comes to timing.

Even if your prospect is interested in what you're offering, you shouldn't set yourself up to compete with other distractions. (Especially if the distraction is a family member!) It is much better — and more considerate — to recommend getting together at a different time than trying to sell amidst chaos. We've all had the experience of trying to remember something that we were told just a few minutes before. Why risk that happening because you pressed too hard to follow your preferred time frame instead of your prospect's?

Here's the naked truth: You want to make a sale but sometimes it makes sense to put off an outreach attempt for another day. Part of your role is to be able to read a room. Don't forget that this spills over into digital outreach initiatives, too. Can you imagine all the emails that were overlooked because they automatically deployed the day after COVID-related shutdowns were announced? Bad timing puts your outreach success at risk. Good timing keeps your sales potential alive.

You can't change the fact that people's attention spans are going in the wrong direction. What you can change is the way you orchestrate your sales approaches. The more effort you put into your planning, the higher your chance of having prospects zone in... not out.